7th Annual Mystery Ride

Saturday morning we awoke to sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 60's. The 7th Annual Mystery Ride was finally here! This year's theme, "Ride Your A Game". Created around the old saying, "Bring Your A Game"; this ride emphasized Ride within your ABILITY, be AWARE of ever changing road, traffic and weather conditions, bring a positive ATTITUDE and ride ALERT by being drug and alcohol free. As usual this ride had been in the making for approximately 10 months. It takes time to not only plan the theme, but create the routes, ride them, change if need be, organize stops, meals, overnight lodging and finally to bring this all together within a budget that many can afford. This year we were able to bring the weekend, one overnight together within a price of under $150 not including gas for the bikes! This year also marked the largest group of riders ever. Twenty-two couples, 44 people and a total of 26 motorcycles left Watertown by 8:45 AM Saturday morning heading...........well, that was the mystery, no one other than Cathy and I knew! Remember the saying? Sports?

Many new couples joined us this year along with many faithful past close friends. One couple Joe and Deb have been on all 7 of our Mystery Rides! These rides are more for socializing than they are for pounding miles on the bikes. We tend to stick to County Truck roads and keep speeds below 50 mph. We attempt to keep each day around 140-180 miles. By keeping rides within this range, we get to the hotel early and have more time to meet and greet. Our ride headed North this year, mainly because of the theme and we never headed this direction with our Tourin Hawgs. Have you guessed where we are going yet? If you thought Titletown, you were correct! Green Bay home of the Packers would be our resting place for the night. But before we arrived we would have one breakdown.

Terry and Jan's 2002 Harley Road Glide decided it was time for a new Drive Belt before we got to lunch in Winneconnie. Chuck and Sarah stayed with them and a call was made to Open Roads Harley-Davidson in Fond Du Lac. They arrived at the dealership around 12:30 and within two hours I got a call from Chuck saying they are riding once again! A drive belt is about a three hour job and they had two mechanics working on the RG. Great job to the wrenchers at Open Roads! Both couples made it to Green Bay as we were checking into the Days Inn on Holmgren Way. Another problem developed with John and Tanya's 1978 Kawasaki KZ1000 in that a wire came unscrewed and they were losing power each time they slowed down to the point the bike was shutting down. John because he has owned this bike since new, yeah I did say since new was able to locate the problem and fix it in time for a smooth Sunday ride home. Imagine, having a bike for 31 years! Talk about loyalty to a brand!

At Fin & Feather in Winneconne we were treated to a plate lunch that consisted of a hamburger or brat and all the fixings. Along the shores of the Wolf River. The restaurant also has a Showboat that has dinner cruises along with live bands and private parties. Deb and the staff catered to our every need. If you find yourself in the area, this is a must stop for lunch or dinner! After lunch our 7 teams that were designated by the color on their name tags, got together and each were given a sheet to complete having 50 sports trivia questions. Winners & losers would receive prizes at Saturday nights dinner. Sunday's lunch is another must see. Just outside of Kiel (south) is a Sports Bar titled "The Sand Pit". Here you will find two indoor volleyball courts, a fully stocked bar and three guys that will make sure your stay is memorable. Usually on Sundays they are closed, except when Cathy and I asked to open just for us Tourin Hawgs, they complied and served a pulled pork sandwich with all the goodies and fresh baked cookies for dessert. Thanks Dave!

Saturday night's dinner was a short walk from the hotel. Brett Favre's Steakhouse was asked by us to trim the fat and come up with a dinner party to beat all. Cathy and I selected pork tenderloin with an apple cinnamon glaze, lemon chicken, a medley of vegetables, garlic mashed potatoes, rolls & butter, coffee and tea and to top it off a Chef slicing prime rib! We were able to sweeten the deal with a large portion of cheesecake with chocolate sauce all for $25 including tax & tip per person! No one left their seats hungry. The sports trivia winning team had 23 of the 50 correct and each member received an NFL Green Bay Packer hat donated by our son Andrew. Each couple on the losing team received sport trivia playing cards. Imagine only 11 of the 50 correct! Couples were asked to wear their favorite sport teams clothing to help with the theme.

Sunday morning we all met at Lambeau Field in the parking lot for a group photo. A great time was had by all. I have no idea how we will ever top this year's ride! To those that rode, thanks for another great Mystery Ride. Be prepared for tent camping and mac & cheese next year! A special shout out goes to Dan & Beth, Bill & Rita and Marc & Chris for being our Road Guards and keeping this large of a group close together. I really missed not having the "wired" communication this year, in more ways than one, right Rita!? Good thing the FCC wasn't listening (lol)!

Please remember to leave comments on the blog at the bottom of each article. This way others can read what you thought of the ride! Don't forget to check for additional photos taken this year at Shutterfly, password "chrome". By-the-way any word that is bolded is a link to another site. Also if you click on a photo within the blog it will open to enormous size on your computer screen! Enjoy!